l\  S.  - 

^'^A^Navajo  Life  Saving  Station. 


'I  Ik*  Good  Samaritan  Hospital,  Indian  W ells,  Arizona. 


Iiuliiui  lu  altli  coiidititnis  are  of  first  iiii{)ortaiice.  Ediioa- 
tinii  of  the  Indian  and  jirotecdion  of  Ids  ])ro])orty  arc  important, 
linl  tlie  ])reser\  ation  of  Ins  health  is  vital.  Education  and  pro]>- 
ertv  protection  will  not  pn'serve  the  race.  Px'ttcr  health  condi- 
tions will. 

'Flic  IK cd  for  Indian  hosjtitals  is  great  among  those  tribes 
who  still  (diiiir  tenacif)nsl_v  to  their  ])rindtive  habits  of  living  and 
th(  ir  racial  su|)erstitions.  Among  all  such  tribes  the  medicine 
ni(  II  e.xercise  a powerful  and  an  evil  inflncnce,  and  perhaps  it  is 
nowhere  more  apparent  than  among  the  great  Xavajo  tribe  of 
Arizfina  ami  Xcw  .Mexico. 

'I'he  (iood  Samaritan  Jlospital,  for  the  Xavajo  Indians, 
was  erected  by  'I'lie  Xational  Indian  Association  and  its  auxil- 
iaries in  the  fall  <d’  U*12.  It  is  situated  in  an  isolated  spot  on 
the  njilands  of  northeast  Arizona,  on  the  edge  of  the  “painted 
desert,"  and  there  are  large  numbers  of  Indiaiis  scattered  over 


till*  adjacent  country,  living  in  wretched  huts  of  log>  and  mud. 
known  as  ‘diogans.”  These  Indians  follow  their  occupation  of 
sheep  raising  and  come  long  distances  to  the  hospital  and  dis- 
IK'Usarv  for  treatment.  Our  resident  physician  and  surgeon 
also  visits  and  treats  the  sick  in  the  hogans. 

Though  the  success  of  the  hospital  has  het'u  so  marked  that  the 
influence  of  the  medicine  men  has  been  considerably  lessened, 
yet  superstitious  practices  in  the  treatment  of  the  sick  still  pre- 
vail. A mother  brought  her  child  to  the  hospital.  It  was  suf- 
fering from  a heavy  bronchial  cold;  was  given  constant  treat- 
ment during  the  night,  and  in  the  morning  there  was  marked 
improvement  in  its  condition.  During  the  day  the  fatlier  came 
to  the  hospital  in  a state  of  agitation  and  fear.  lie  said  that 
before  the  child  was  born  a sister  of  its  mother  was  bitten  by  a 
snake  and  died,  and  that  was  the  cause  of  the  child’s  illness.  lie 
was  sure,  he  said,  ‘The  white  man’s  medicine  would  not  do  any 
good.”  The  sujterintendent  talked  with  him,  but  he  insisted 
u])on  taking  the  child  away  to  have  a “sing”  over  it.  A Xavajo 
man  was  found  who  could  “sing”  the  snake  song,  so  they  took 
the  baby  to  a hogan  about  a mile  distant,  where  tlnw  “sang” 
over  it  continuously  that  night  and  all  the  following  day.  The 
man  returned  to  the  hospital  about  midnight  and  said  the  child 
was  dead. 

An  interesting  case  of  an  old  Indian  woman  whose  life  was 
saved  by  cand'ul  treatment  at  the  hospital  is  thus  described  by 
the  physician : 

‘‘(’bee,  our  regular  Indian  helper,  went  to  his  father's  on 
a short  visit  recently.  He  found  a medicine  man  there  holding 
a ‘sing’  over  his  father's  mother,  an  old  woman  one  hundred  and 
ten  years  of  ago.  A goat  had  run  one  of  its  horns  nearly  tlu-ough 
her  left  hand  and  blood  poison  had  set  in.  (’bee  at  once  sent  the 
inedicine  man  away.  When  he  came  hack  and  told  me  of  the 
condition  of  his  grandmother,  I suggested  that  he  should  go  and 
bring  her  to  the  hospital  and  we  would  make  an  effort  to  save  her 
life,  lie  returned  home  for  her  and  found  that  the  medicine 
man  had  again  e.xerted  his  power  and  e.xtorted  a horse,  a valu- 
able gun  and  several  head  of  sheep  from  his  victims,  as  pay  for 
his  ‘medicine,’  and  was  continuing  his  incantations,  ('bee  pre- 
vailed with  his  father  to  bring  the  old  woman  to  the  hospital. 


When  they  arrived  she  was  so  weak  and  emaciated  that  slie  could 
liardly  get  into  the  office.  The  medicine  man  had  burned  some 
kind  of  plant  and  sprinkled  the  ashes  and  charcoal  from  it  all 
over  the  old  woman’s  body  and  in  her  hair  and  face,  until  one 
could  scarcely  tell  what  her  original  color  was.  It  took  Mrs. 
.Moore  almost  an  hour  to  remove  the  soot  and  ashes.  We  found 
the  wounded  hand  all  involved.  The  entire  back  of  the  hand 
from  near  the  wrist  joint  to  the  knuckles  and  from  the  thumb  to 
the  little  finger  had  sloughed  away;  the  pus  had  followed  the 
course  of  the  tendons,  and  there  were  ugly  openings  between 
the  lingers  and  at  the  base  of  the  thumb.  I dressed  the  hand  and 
gave  the  patient  a full  dose  of  combined  vaccine  and  an  opiate, 
as  she  had  not  slej)t  for  nearly  two  weeks.  Though  she  was  in 
such  a dangerous  condition  and  there  seemed  little  hope  of  sav- 
ing her  life,  she  has  now  passed  the  danger  point,  and  after  ten 
days  of  careful  treatment  is  on  the  road  to  recovery.  She  eats 
heartily,  sleeps  well,  is  cheerful,  sits  up,  walks  around  in  the 
ward,  laughs  and  talks.  If  no  coni])lications  set  in  she  will  be 
entirely  recox'cred  in  two  weeks.  Kv('ry  day  Chee  reads  to  her 
from  a coj)v  of  (lenesis  in  the  Xavajo  language,  and  she  seems 
to  take  great  interest  in  the  Ilible  stories.” 

hater,  the  doctor  wrote:  “()ur  old  Indian  woman  whom 

we  have  had  as  a })atient  has  recovered  siifficiently  to  be  sent 
home.  large  nund)er  of  the  Indians  called  to  talk  with  her 
during  the  past  two  weeks.  This  one  case  alone  has  led  many 
of  them  to  realize  that  the  practices  of  their  medicine  inen  are 
of  no  avail.” 

'The  (lood  Samaritan  Ilosj)ital  is  a f.'hristian  institution. 
In  addition  to  the  healing  of  the  body,  patients  hear,  often  for 
the  first  time,  the  story  of  (iod’s  love  for  them. 

During  the  three  years  since  the  hospital  has  been  open, 
more  than  .5,800  treatments  have  been  given  in  the  wards,  in  the 
dispensary,  in  a tuberculosis  tent,  and  in  the  i^avajo  hogans. 

.^^any  severe  cases  of  trachoma,  where  the  eyesight  has 
been  almost  gone,  have  been  treated  successfully  at  the  hospital. 
But  there  ai’c  other  diseases  and  injuries  each  day  needing  nuMi- 
cal  attention  and  surgical  skill. 


Xu  other  medical  station  is  within  reach  of  large  numbers 
of  these  Indians. 

I’he  Hosj)ital  has  no  endowment,  but  is  supported  entirely 
by  voluntary  gifts.  The  cost  of  the  running  expenses  is  $1,300 
a year.  At  present  the  Hospital  cannot  he  carried  on  at  its  full 
capacity,  owing  to  a lack  of  means. 

We  Jieed  at  once  : 

$2,000  for  current  expenses  of  meids  and  women’s 
wards. 

$200  for  current  expenses  of  an  emergency  room,  re- 
cently equipped. 

Your  contribution  is  urgently  solicited.  Cheques  may  be 
made  ])ayable  to  Miss  Anna  Bennett,  Treasurer,  and  sent  to 
her,  or  to  John  W.  Clark,  Executive  Secretary  of  The  Xational 
Indian  Association,  156  Fifth  Avenue.  ISTew  York. 

April,  WIG. 


A Navajo  Hogan. 


